


It's a long way down

by WolfKomoki



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, merman Barry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-25
Updated: 2018-03-31
Packaged: 2019-03-23 15:40:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13790835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WolfKomoki/pseuds/WolfKomoki
Summary: When the Particle Accelerator exploded, Barry Allen was going for a swim in the ocean and was exposed. After that day Barry Allen was a merman whenever he touched water. Without the Flash, this puts a damper on Eobard Thawne's plans to get back to his time period.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [trufflemores](https://archiveofourown.org/users/trufflemores/gifts).



> The Flash is owned by The CW.

         

 

 

Ever since Barry learned how to swim, Joe couldn't keep him out of the water. Any chance to go for a swim that Barry got, he took it. Joe can't remember the last time they weren't making trips to the beach, or the pool. The day of the particle accelerator explosion, Barry was going for a swim in the ocean when he was hit by the blast and knocked under the dark ocean. When Barry was knocked backwards into the ocean, it was pitch black. Barry knew that he shouldn't be swimming here at night, but it's not like he hadn't gone for a night swim before. To Barry's surprise, when he fell into the water, his legs vanished, and were replaced by a large, black, and red tail. Another thing he noticed was that he didn't need to hold his breath anymore, he was breathing just fine. Barry felt something rough on his neck, and that's when he slowly stroked his neck to find gills.

         _What the hell? I'm a merman? No, there's no way, that's impossible._ Barry tries to swim like he would with legs, only to realize that this action was causing him to sink. Barry's eyes widened when a dolphin brushed up against him and started clicking at him.

         "You're doing it wrong. Do it like the this." The dolphin instructs as it slowly shows Barry how to swim with his tail. To Barry's surprise, he could understand the Dolphin perfectly fine. Barry slowly moved his tail in a wave motion, slowly turning as he used that motion to swim to the surface. Getting to the surface wasn't an easy job either, as Barry had to use his arms to drag himself onto a rock. When Barry dragged himself onto the surface, his gills slowly flattened as his lungs took over, allowing him to breathe in oxygen.

         Barry listened to the sound of the waves against the sand, watching as the waves slowly retracted from the rock he was perched against. The moonlight glistened against his tail, and Barry found himself mesmerized by it. When two minutes passed, Barry was surprised to see his tail slowly transform back into legs. Before he ended up tumbling off of the rock, Barry grabs the edge of the pier, and slowly climbs down from the rock. Oh God, he had to get home, he had to know that everyone was okay. Barry ends up getting to his house almost an hour later, and that's when he's pulled into a hug by Joe, and Iris.

         "You scared us to death!" Iris scolds.

         "Sorry Iris, sorry Joe. I went for a swim and lost track of time." Barry apologizes.

         "You went for a swim, at night, where no one could see you? Are you _nuts_? You could've drowned!" Joe shouts.

         "I know Joe, I'm sorry." Barry says. What was he supposed to tell them, that he grows a tail whenever he's in the water now? That won't go over well.

         "Let's just go to sleep now that we know everyone is okay." Joe says as he, Iris, and Barry go to their rooms. When Barry gets to his room, he gets dressed for sleep, and that's when he lays on the bed, lost in thought. _How am I going to tell Joe and Iris about my tail? Joe already thinks I'm crazy for believing in the man in yellow. If I tell him this, he'll really think that I'm crazy. How am I supposed to hide this though? If I stop swimming, then he'll know that something is up. What am I supposed to do though? People will freak out if they see my tail._

         Barry sighs. There was no use in working himself up right now. He'd deal with this tomorrow. For now, he needs sleep. Barry ends up falling asleep a couple hours later. When Barry wakes up the next morning, he feels awful. His skin was really dry, and itchy. Barry sighs and gets dressed. He really needed to go for a swim right now, that had to be why he's feeling like shit right? Barry walks into the living room to see Joe in the kitchen.

         "Oh, hey Barry. You're up early." Joe greets.

         "Yeah. I'm gonna go for a swim so I don't know when I'll be back." Barry says as he starts walking towards the door.

         "What, now? It's six o'clock." Joe asks.

         "Yeah, Joe. Morning swims are the best!" Barry says as he walks out the door before he could stop him. By the time Barry gets to the beach it was seven o'clock, and people were already starting to show up to the beach. Barry takes his shirt off after that, and that's when he walks to the ocean, slowly jumping into it as his legs slowly turned into a tail. When Barry started swimming in the ocean, his skin slowly started to feel better. _Okay, so I need to go for a swim as often as I can. That's going to be difficult to do. Then again, Joe is used to me going for a swim so it shouldn't be that odd._

Barry giggles when a dolphin brushes up against his tail.

         "Hey, that tickles!" He laughs. The dolphin nudges up against him, and that's when Barry finds himself in a race with the dolphin. The dolphin ends up beating Barry, and that's when he goes to the surface for a second, knowing that if he didn't come up, the lifeguard would jump in and see his tail. Barry goes back under the water, not ready to leave the ocean just yet.

If it wasn't for the fact that his friends and family all lived on land, Barry could very easily live in the ocean. Barry smiles and starts going lower in the ocean. He wanted something that he could put in his room, so he decided to keep swimming. When Barry finally does tire himself out, he surfaces on a beach in Starling City.

 

 

 

 

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

         When Barry surfaces, his tail was in the sand. Barry begins to panic. What the hell was he supposed to do? He has nothing to dry off with, and people are going to see his tail. Felicity’s eyes widened when she sees Barry in the sand, with a red, and black fish tail.

         “Oh my God! You have a tail!” Felicity shrieks as she goes to grab her beach towel. When she comes back, she starts drying Barry’s tail with the towel.

         “How did it happen? Was it the Particle Accelerator?” She asks.

         “Basically, yeah. I was going for a swim when the blast knocked me in the ocean, and surprise! I had a tail.” He explains. Felicity watches in fascination as Barry’s tail slowly turns back into legs.

         “What does Joe and Iris think about it?” She asks.

         “They don’t know about it.” Barry says. Felicity blinks.

         “Wait, they don’t know about it? Barry!” Felicity gasps.

         “What am I supposed to _do_ Felicity? Joe already thinks I’m crazy for believing in the man in yellow. If I tell him this, he’ll just make me go to another therapist or he might even put me in the psych ward!” Barry asks. Felicity frowns.

         “Barry, what happens if you get splashed and you don’t have time to dry yourself off? They’ll see your tail then.” Felicity asks. Barry sighs. She has a point.

         “I… I’ll tell them. When I’m ready.” He informs.

         “So, what’s it like having a tail?” She asks.

         “Honestly? It was really heavy at first. I tried to swim like you would with legs, but that didn’t work out. Then this dolphin showed me how to swim and I swam here.” Barry answers.

         “Wait… you talked to a dolphin?” Felicity asks.

         “Well, no. It talked to me, I just listened.” Barry shrugs.

         “You can understand dolphins though. I’m _so_ jealous!” She exclaims. Barry chuckles.

         “Shouldn’t you be getting to work?” Felicity asks.

         “Oh shit. What time is it?” Barry asks, beginning to panic.

         “It’s almost eight.” Felicity says.

         “I gotta go. Bye Felicity.” Barry says as he jumps into the ocean. Felicity watched as his legs turned into a tail, and he lowered himself in the ocean. Once Barry was in the ocean, he starts swimming faster, determined to get to work as soon as he can. Before he knew it, he was soaring through the ocean. By the time Barry surfaced, it was eight in the morning. _Shit. That was close._

Barry sighs when he sees his tail. He holds out his hand, slowly using it to move his tail out of the water. _I really need to get dry_.

Barry’s eyes widened when steam started coming from his fingers.

         “What the _hell_?” He asks. Soon enough his tail slowly turned back into legs, and he was dry. Barry slowly stands up and starts walking back to his house. He’d left his wallet, and phone at home, so he couldn’t call for an Uber even if he wanted to. When he gets to his house, he reaches into his pocket for his house keys, only to fall to the ground ten seconds later with a tail.

         _Shit! So anytime I touch water I have ten seconds before I grow a tail?_ Great. Barry thinks of what happened earlier, with the steam. How did he do that? Well, he held out his hand, and it happened. Barry slowly holds out his hand, sighing with relief when the steam appears again. Slowly, he starts touching his tail, watching as the steam slowly heats it. Soon enough his tail turns back to legs, and he slowly turns the key in the lock.

         “Hey Bar you back from your swim?” Joe asks.

         “Uh, yeah. I, uh forgot my phone and wallet, so I’m just gonna go grab it.” Barry says as he goes to his room. After that, he grabs his phone, putting it, and his wallet in his pocket. After that he puts his badge on and gets in the car with Joe as he drives him to work.

         “Alright, what’s going on?” Joe asks. Barry blinks.

         “What do you mean?” Barry asks.

         “A six o’clock swim? Really Barry? Do you think I was born yesterday?” Joe asks.

         “Joe what is this about?” Barry asks with confusion.

         “You never wake up that early first of all, and now suddenly you wake up at six in the morning for a swim? So, do me a favor, and _stop_ lying to me. What is it?” Joe asks.

         “Joe, I can’t tell you, I’m sorry.” Barry apologizes.

         “Why the hell not?” Joe asks.

         “Because you won’t believe me unless I show you.” Barry informs. Joe sighs.

         “Fine, just fine.” He says as he continues driving. When they finally get to the CCPD, everyone was running around, in a panic.

         “Whoa! Captain, what’s going on?” Barry asks.

         “Not now Allen, the Mardon brothers are at it again! Joe you’re with me. Now let’s move it!” He calls as they get into a police cruiser. Barry shrugs and goes down to his lab. He’s not a cop, so there’s not much he can do here. He’s still trying to wrap his head around the fact that he can make steam appear in his hands. He’d accepted the fact that he’s a Merman now, but the ability to control steam? Yeah, that’s gonna take a while to wrap his head around.

         He shrugs and starts analyzing the DNA sample that was given to him. After an hour the results were finished, and that’s when he writes down his findings. _I wonder, what would my DNA results show?_ Barry shrugs and decides to use his own Saliva for the sample. An hour passes, and the results come in. When he stares at the screen, his eyes widened when he sees that his DNA is half human, half fish.

         _Well, that’s going to be a problem. What am I supposed to say, oh yeah, I’m a merman? They’d lock me up and do experiments._

 

        


End file.
